10 Fastest-Growing Big ’Burbs in Texas: How Much Will They Grow by 2030?

Maybe it’s the stellar schools. Perhaps it’s the abundance of nice homes. Or it might be the allure of lush suburban lawns.

Whatever the reason, big suburbs in Texas — where everything’s bigger, of course — are seeing a significant population spike. For instance, the population of San Marcos, an Austin suburb, soared nearly 8 percent from 2013 to 2014. For that one-year span, San Marcos ranked as the fastest-growing U.S. city with at least 50,000 residents.

Just how much bigger will hyper-growth suburbs like San Marcos get?

A LawnStarter analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Texas Water Development Board shows the state’s 10 fastest-growing big suburbs from 2013 to 2014 are projected to grow at least 20 percent over the next 15 years. The Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Frisco leads the pack, with its population predicted to climb almost 56 percent from 2014 to 2030.

These figures don’t surprise Steve Murdock, director of Rice University’s Hobby Center for the Study of Texas. Murdock, former director of the Census Bureau, says that for decades, suburbs have been the fastest-growing parts of metro areas in Texas. The state’s rapid economic expansion has fueled suburban growth, he said.

In Frisco, an August 2015 estimate pegs the city’s population at more than 150,000.

Another draw: Frisco’s public schools. The Frisco Independent School District consistently ranks among the best districts in Texas. Today, the Frisco district serves about 53,000 students. By 2021, that number is projected to reach 70,355.

“We’ve always known we’re going to be a bigger city,” Tom Felker, president of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, recently told the Dallas Morning News. “We’re all just making certain that we do so in a way that preserves the quality and, where we can, preserve that small-town home feeling that we’ve always had.”

Here’s our ranking of how the 10 fastest-growing big suburbs in Texas will fare over the next 15 years.